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| Mounatin Vista’s Elijah Valdez attempt to get past Legend’s Taylor Jensen early in the 1st quarter Tuesday night |
Mountain Vista Soars Past Legend
By Matt Langley
LangleyScouting.blogspot.com
2/19/2013
Highlands Ranch, CO – As the saying goes, “Slow and steady wins the race.” Let’s just say the fast and steady Mountain Vista Golden Eagles do not exactly subscribe to that theory. Even though the Golden Eagles gave up 28 points, the most points they had given up in a quarter all year, the Golden Eagles held true to their fast and attacking style of play and soared past the Legend Titans 76-58 Tuesday night at Mountain Vista High School.
The game started as a back and forth affair, with neither team gaining more than a three point advantage in the first 3:30 of the quarter. The Titians were able to extend their lead to five with back to back buckets from junior Zach Mihalicz and senior Jonathan Cosmann. That sparked a 6-1 run by the Titans led by Mihalicz, who came off the bench for senior Blake Truman who picked up his second foul earlier in the first quarter. As it looked like the Titans might extend the lead further, Golden Eagle senior Damani Respass scored six straight points in one minute to cut the Titans’ lead to 21-18 with 45 seconds left in the quarter. However, Legend senior Taylor Jenson nailed a three pointer scoring his 11th point of the quarter to extend the Titan lead back to six points.
The second quarter was not as kind to the visitors as the first was, and the home team kept running and pushing the ball. Mountain Vista scored 17 points in the quarter while holding Legend to just 9 points. Mountain Vista, led by Respass and leading scorer junior Jake Pemberton, tied the score 33-33 midway through the 2nd quarter. Then took the lead with 2:00 left in the quarter, 37-36. As hot as the Titans where in the 1stquarter, they were as cold in the second. The jump shots and free throws did not fall and the easy buckets in the paint stopped as Mihalicz and Truman had been sent to the bench with foul trouble. The Golden Eagles took a 39-37 lead into halftime.
It looked as though the Titans figured out their shooting woes as the 3rdquarter began with Jenson knocking down a three pointer. Mountain Vista senior Elijah Valdez had other plans though. Valdez scored 8 points in the 3rd quarter while draining back-to-back three pointers to give the Golden Eagles a 55-44 lead with 2:10 left in the quarter. After the promising start, the Titans went cold again. Missed three pointers in transition, missed free throws, and the shots in the paint that had fallen in the first quarter where now rimming out, and this led to an 8 point quarter for the Titians.
After going out in the third quarter with a cut above his eye that was sustained by getting hit with an elbow from Mihalicz, Mountain Vista senior Mitch Carter returned to score five straight points to push the Golden Eagle lead to 16 points, 64-48. The Titians were unable to make a legendary comeback in the final quarter. The Golden Eagles continued to attack the open lanes in the Titan defense scoring 19 points in the quarter. Valdez chipped in another five points in the quarter on his way to a game high 22 points. Carter scored 17 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Pemberton scored 13, and Respass added 12 points for the Golden Eagles. Jensen scored 16, and Cosmann added 15 points for the Titans.
The 20-1 Golden Eagles are looking at a one seed in the upcoming state tournament that is if they can beat Highlands Ranch on Friday night. If Mountain Vista wins, they will claim the league title over Regis and be one of the teams that might have that slight chance to defeat Denver East.